Aimei
by salothedog
Summary: 暧昧 is the Chinese term for the uncertainty of relationships that are more than friends, yet not lovers. A series of non-chronological one-shots as James and Lily discover who - and what - they are.


( **Liability** \- Lorde)

 _Maybe_ , Lily thought as she sat reading Jane Austen and James lounged on the other side of the sofa leafing lazily through a trashy romance novel, _sometimes being around Potter isn't so bad after all_. Smiling a little to herself upon this consideration, she shifted slightly and caught a whiff of a familiar smell.

"James Potter, are you wearing _muggle cologne_?"

James turned a brighter shade of vermillion than he had the time he was caught by McGonagall passing notes of a rather sexual nature to Sirius in class. "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, Evans. Are you sure you aren't going catty from all that reading?"

Lily wrinkled her nose. "I most definitely spell cologne, Potter." She scooted slightly closer to him on the sofa, bringing her nose a mere few inches from James's T-shirt. (In any other situation, this would have likely warranted a lecherous remark from James and a quick snap backwards from Lily, but James was too busy trying to control his alarmingly red complexion.)

"I know," she declared with an air of finality. "You smell like Bobby Fischer."

"Who in Merlin's name is Bobby Fischer?"

"He was my first muggle date." Lily frowned in distaste, as the memory of the acne-riddled, bony redhead who lived next door to her when she was 12 returned to her.

"You had a bloke _before_ Joshy-poo?"

"James, just because I would never date you in a hundred years doesn't mean I'm not perfectly happy to date other blokes. Besides, it was a one-time thing, he was ugly, and he accidentally tripped and broke his nose trying to kiss me."

James let out a hoot of laughter before another grin crept across his face. (He was recovering from the cologne debacle far too quickly, Lily mused, and she hoped he wasn't about to turn the tables on _her_.) "Brilliant, Evans, just brilliant. Are you sure you didn't just punch him and try to pass it off as an accident?"

"You be careful I don't break your nose," Lily grumbled to herself.

"Besides, tell me more about this Bobby Fischer fellow. How'd you even meet him if he was a muggle? More importantly, was he - y'know - _satisfying_?"

"Potter, mind your own business. Don't you have first-years to hustle money off of?"

"Evans, I'm just saying. We've all heard the sounds you and Joshy make up there." James's eyebrows shot up in remarkable unison. "My guess is you like to do things a little… rough."

Lily fell off the sofa. In later recounting of this tale, Lily would argue that she had gracefully chosen to back off a few inches in embarrassment after realizing that the thinness of her walls - private room or no - had likely betrayed her. James, of course, would describe it more as a tumbling mass of red hair that landed with a thump on the common room carpet.

"Blimey, Evans, is this how you react anytime you think about Joshy-boy?" Potter jested, although he did seem somewhat alarmed at Lily's sudden fall from grace and reached out a hand to help her up.

 _This is why I can't spend time with you, James Potter_ , Lily seethed in her mind. _Because if I'm not busy hating you then you're making me act like a total and complete fool_. "James, you're disgusting, and what Joshua and I get up to when we're on our own is none of your business either. Now, it's been a lovely night, but I'd like to go to sleep. Good night," she snapped, as she indignantly grabbed her book and left Potter's arm hanging in front of him.

"Wait, Evans -" Potter seemed to sound genuinely apologetic for a moment, before his voice returned to its usual jesting drawl, "but you didn't tell me about the Fischer bloke yet."

Lily gazed at him for a moment, searching his eyes for signs of remorse. She was met instead with wry determination. _Why is it that everytime I think I might be able to have a normal, healthy friendship with James Potter, he has to go and ruin it with a move like that?_ "I have an exam tomorrow in Arithmancy, Potter, and I need to sleep." She charged off bitterly, clutching her book so tightly she could feel her fingernails sinking into the soft leather binding.

 _You're a goddamn fool, James Potter_ she swore in her mind as she rounded the stairwell to the girls' rooms.

In the common room, James sat with the tips of his ears still tingling red gazing at the single long strand of red hair that lay splayed out on his novel.

"You're a goddamn fool, James Potter," he groaned to the empty room.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Welcome, and thank you so much for reading! This was originally written a few months ago based on a specific image I envisioned in my head, but this universe of James and Lily has since expanded to an entire timeline. I look forward to sharing it with all of you through a series of moments :) Each chapter will be accompanied by a theme song that inspired the general aura of the story - cookies to anyone who can figure out this one (it's not hard)!

Reviews and feedback are better than sex. Please comment and let me know what you think!


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